


Rum on the Fire

by suffragettecity



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Coping mechanism, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by a Hozier Song, M/M, Piercings, Title from a Hozier Song, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29953650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suffragettecity/pseuds/suffragettecity
Summary: “You think I’m naive,” Kaoru whispered - there was not an ounce of venom in this accusation.Silence. Confirmation. The needle was put back into place by tan fingers.“I think you’re worthy of love.”_________Kojiro pierces Kaoru's lip, but for all the wrong reasons.
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Kikuchi Tadashi/Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom/Shindo Ainosuke | Adam, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 5
Kudos: 140





	Rum on the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> " But I want it,  
> It's a crime ...
> 
> The blood is rare,  
> and sweet as cherry wine "

It was Autumn in Okinawa, and their boards were barely scuffed. 

The decks lay beneath their feet, rolling back and forth around the linoleum, kicking up anticipation for the moment that shrill school-bell rang for the final time. And as soon as it did, they jumped from their seats in an emancipated action - loosening uniform ties, slacking posture, untucking collared shirts. By the time they found each other in the peer crowded courtyard, they were ready. 

“Adam can’t meet us today.” The smaller boy explained, clunking his board down onto the pavement. Kojiro shrugged and adjusted his shoulder-bag. 

“‘S fine,” He sniffed. “We’re studying at yours, anyway.”

“Yeah.”

Another board clattered against the ground. “Well, let’s go.”

Noses and ears became bitten with the season as the two weaved through the city’s familiar streets, a beginner's caution still trailing every sharp turn. The air was crisp and burned their lungs pleasantly, heightening their gratifying breath. They loved skating. Truly. 

Kojiro let his companion take the lead, willingly admiring the strategic way the other boy moved. Kaoru’s hair cascaded behind him with every pedaling stride - as if it were spring itself. As if blossoms were blooming in pastel pedals behind his head. 

Spring personified called from over his shoulder. “Stop catching my draft,” He scolded, his tempered voice carried with the rustle of Autumn’s wind. “I’m not pulling you around.”

Kojiro smirked in return. “Ah,” He sounded, weaving left. “My legs were tired.”

“Sloth.” Kaoru tsked. He pushed once more and gained another lick of speed, noting the steady succession of the board beside him. Kojiro passed him with a wave, his own hair like summer’s grass - billowing in the heated fields. 

Two seasons.

By the time Kaoru skidded to an impressive halt, the boys were huffing with the excursion of their impromptu race. It would have been a tie, naturally, but the premature pitstop outside of a convenient store called the competition off. 

Kojiro slowed with a turn and circled back around, shooting a confused glance over his shoulder. 

“I need to pick up a few things.” Kaoru airily explained, kicking his scratched-up deck into his grasp. “Go on, I’ll meet you.”

Broad shoulders shrugged. “Spot me a water?”

“Fine.”

Carrying their boards horizontal by their sides, the two entered the dinging store with polite expressions - aware that the authoritative store owner would be watching for any adolescent antics. They gave each other curt nods before separating into different sides of the store, silently promising to meet back once they found what they were looking for. 

With two water’s in his fists, Kojiro found his pink-headed friend between an unusual isle. 

“Why do you need medical supplies?” He asked, his booming voice causing the other to jump. He sighed and answered with a characteristic grumble. 

“Mind your business.” 

A bottle cracked open, uncaring that it wasn’t yet paid for. “Why?”

Kaoru slipped the sharp item off its hook and turned. 

“I’m piercing my lip.” He said. 

****

A purchased needle, a kitchen teatowel, and his mother’s stolen hoop-earring lay on Kaoru’s bathroom countertop. They were arranged in a neat little row, like a trio of perched birds on a wire. Kojiro stared at them from his loitering position against the wall, silently digesting this display. If they were birds, he thought, perhaps they were crows. A murder. 

“Why don’t you just get it professionally done?” He asked, his voice a little pitched with boyish misunderstanding. “Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Kaoru responded with a pull of his rosy hair and a twist of a yellow-band. “No.”

Kojiro raised a defiant brow. “It’s gonna hurt.” 

“I don’t expect it to tickle.”

The tanned boy huffed once more and leaned up farther against the wall, watching as Kaoru glared into the adjacent mirror. His reflection revealed a timid student still in his wrinkled uniform, pink strands of hair tied together in a feminine example. Kojiro always liked that style. 

But this was very different than any previous times; they weren’t skating here. 

And that became very obvious as Kaoru reached for the pointed object. He rolled it between his delicate fingers and inspected it intently, as if he was rolling around his reluctant thoughts. All it took was the flash of hesitance in those golden eyes for Kojiro to curse and pick himself off the wall. 

“Let me do it, damnit” He growled. 

He padded back into the room a moment later, carrying something small and dripping in his large palm. “Sit,” He instructed. 

Kaoru stared at him with a gaze that could bring God to his submissive knees, but he obeyed nonetheless. He settled himself against the countertop and glanced down. 

“What is that?”

“An icecube,” Kojiro mumbled, settling himself between those thinly draped legs. He tilted Kaoru’s prominent chin and placed the dripping compress against his plump bottom lip. “To numb it.”

Pale hands attempted to drag his wrist away. “I don’t want that.” He objected. 

“So you _want _it to hurt?”__

__Nothing was said as the two boys glared, a silent answer floating between the open space. Kojiro sighed in realization and held the cube back in place._ _

__“Why are you doing this?” He asked. His voice had gone frustratingly quiet, tinted with a half-hearted scold._ _

__“It’ll look cool, won’t it?” The numbed mouth mumbled. “Can’t that be a reason?”_ _

__After a few slow moments, the ice was discarded to the side of the counter. Kojiro picked up the main attraction - a long, pointed needle that caught the fluorescent lights with a sparkle - and moved back over. He was drafting behind courage._ _

__“Adam will like it.” He said._ _

__Auburn eyes sparkled like the needle itself before snubbing out into a muddled brown. It was a split second of complete vulnerability that, of course, didn’t go unnoticed._ _

__Kaoru shifted against the sink and looked at his shoes. “What does he have to do with any of this?” He asked, his conviction so insecurely soft it might as well have been a confession._ _

__In an attempt to lay those grievances to rest, Kojiro lightly pinched the side of Kaoru’s lip in preparation. The warmth of an open mouth contrasted the cold effects of ice, and sweet breath gusted like the wind. The spring’s breeze galed as Kojiro rolled the skin beneath his calloused pads - pretending to inspect it._ _

__“Here?” He asked softly, alluding to where the piercing should be. A gentle nod rocked his fingers in confirmation. He sighed once again. “Okay.”_ _

__And as the needle pressed against the skin - not breaking through quite yet, just testing the waters - Kojiro couldn’t help but linger. He, too, began testing the waters._ _

__“He was raised strangely, don’t you think?” He muttered._ _

__Kaoru’s hand still held that tan wrist. “What do you mean?”_ _

__“I mean,” He faltered for a second, dropping the needle from its threatening position and chuckling. There was no humor, though. “He was taught weird things,” A beat. “About love.”_ _

__That grip tightened. “And how would you know?”_ _

__“Because,” He strained. “You’re doing this for him, right?”_ _

__Pale fingers slunk down Kojiro’s forearm in defeat._ _

__He wanted to say no. Wanted to push that rough hand away and do it all for himself - he didn’t need anybody. Wanted to look at the juniper boy and feel the same spark he did whenever a lapis hand would catch his waist. That’s what the summer deserved, anyway. To be looked at like that._ _

__But fingers still pinched his lip, and therefore the lie lay dormant on his tongue. Nothing was said for another moment._ _

__So Kojiro smiled kindly, like he always did, and ignored the faint pang it took to quirk his lips in reassurance. It was a sympathetic expression masking up juvenile hurt._ _

__“You think I’m naive,” Kaoru whispered at the sight. There was not an ounce of venom in this accusation._ _

__Silence. Confirmation. The silver needle was put back into place._ _

__“I think you’re worthy of love,” Kojiro eased, dripping with as much honesty as he could happily muster. “But that doesn’t matter. It’s about what _you _think.”___ _

____Fingers tightened around his arm. “And what do I think?”_ _ _ _

____The needle pressed further._ _ _ _

____“You think that if you prove yourself capable of handling pain, he’d love you.”_ _ _ _

____Silence. Confirmation._ _ _ _

____He tilted that pale jaw, alluding to much more than the piercing. “Do you really want this?” Do you really love him?_ _ _ _

____Kaoru held his stare._ _ _ _

____“Yes.”_ _ _ _

____So Kojiro pushed the dagger through._ _ _ _

____Heartbeats clashed in a stuttering beat as a pathetic whimper smothered the room. Crescent moons from clinging nails kissed a forearm, and golden eyes screwed shut in recollection. Every nerve boiled with sharp, lightening pain._ _ _ _

____This was what he wanted._ _ _ _

____Immediately, Kojiro retreated with a horrified expression. He watched as the blood blossomed beneath his fingers, a color he had only seen in the eyes of that ruthless boy. It looked so blasphemous on snow-colored skin. It looked so wrong._ _ _ _

____Protectively, he swiped a thumb across the crimson wound and applied pressure to soothe. Kaoru sucked in another sharp breath and adjusted his anchoring grip, savoring the taste of copper and warm wine pricking his tongue._ _ _ _

____The damp teatowel replaced pressured thumbs. Blood trickled onto the linen with a blot and stained the white marble besides them, promising to stain. But it was over, now. Done with._ _ _ _

____The two boys breathed together in quiet aftershock, settling their heaving chests with rigid exhales. Kaoru showed no signs of restraint to the towel’s intimate placement, and even leaned into the touch with a tilt. Comfort - they ached for it._ _ _ _

____Oh, how easier it could all be._ _ _ _

____But Kojiro had to let him go one way or another._ _ _ _

____He detangled himself from the trembling boy and let the towel fall into pale hands. His own touch was stained with the hues of crushed wine, a tattoo of sorts, but he hardly cared. He simply watched Kaoru slip off the sink and stumble._ _ _ _

____“Thank you.” The frailer boy breathed._ _ _ _

____Summer swallowed away his sour pride, for there was nothing to welcome. But he said it, anyway. “No problem.”_ _ _ _

____And when the wound was clean and the blood was dry, a silver hoop would poke through the tender skin and catch the streetlights with a gleam. When they ran from the cops, the blue and red sirens would glitter on his lips. When he’d watch the lapis-haired boy do another trick against the abandoned railing, the moon would reflect on his smile._ _ _ _

____Spring’s polaris._ _ _ _

____It blinded Kojiro every time._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____****_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____It was Spring in Okinawa, and their boards were nearly broken._ _ _ _

____The winter had been long and selfish, nearly freezing their spirits between the sun’s warm absence. Days were short, nights were long, and friendships were cut prematurely._ _ _ _

____Adam had left in February. Blossoms still peaked in March._ _ _ _

____Sneezing against the pollen, Kojiro stacked another glass against the polished mahogany. This had only been his second month with an apron-tied around his waist, but he was already comfortable enough to work behind bar. Or, at least, poor management instructed a minor to do so._ _ _ _

____It was only an afterschool job, taken to pay for a new deck, but he’d own this restaurant someday. Sure of it._ _ _ _

____The door dinged from behind him and he didn’t need to turn around. He knew the sound of those tempered footsteps and rustling fabric as well as any hymn._ _ _ _

____He started off the way he always did. “Any word from him?”_ _ _ _

____Those footsteps shuffled to a stop and squeaked back a chair. “No,” That airy voice answered. “But that’s expected.”_ _ _ _

____“Mm.” Kojiro noted. He picked up a tea kettle. without needing to be asked, and turned. “How were finals…”_ _ _ _

____He blinked. Auburn eyes, caged behind rarely worn rectangular frames, blinked back._ _ _ _

____“What is it?” Kaoru muttered, flicking his gaze back down. His tone gave away the fact that he already knew what was wrong, but he was never one to explain himself unprovoked._ _ _ _

____The kettle was placed down with a clink. “You took your piercing’s out.”_ _ _ _

____Kaoru hummed and flipped the menu beneath him. “Congratulations,” He said, resting a careless chin onto an even more careless palm. “You still know how to use your eyes.”_ _ _ _

____It took Kojiro a few more blinks to address the banter. He took his time admiring the aggravated state of where that silver-ring used to perch - beneath a scowling, plump lip. The skin was pink from disuse, but the fading color only promised that the holes would close-up rather quickly. Even his earrings, which _had _been professionally pierced, were missing. All that remained were scabs.___ _ _ _

______Kaoru looked so different. Older._ _ _ _ _ _

______And it made Kojiro smile - despite the teasing. “That’s rich coming from you, four-eyes.” He decided. Kaoru tsked and flipped another page._ _ _ _ _ _

______Because regardless of the wounds youth had mercilessly inflicted, time would always be a supple healer._ _ _ _ _ _

______And it was only natural for spring to melt into summer._ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> ahh ty all for reading this little angst piece. i fell in love with the idea of joe piercing cherry's lip, but i figured i should expand on the obvious tension between him and adam. also, how perfect was the song cherry wine for this?  
> if you like pls kudos/comment!  
> stay safe and stay loved<3
> 
> p.s ik i probably got some canon/timeline stuff wrong but o well haha


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